County Dossier
Banffshire
A county of fishing towns and Highland glens.
Banffshire is a county on the Moray Firth (Cuan Mhoireibh), stretching inland along the valley of the River Spey (Abhainn Spè) into the Grampian and Cairngorm Mountains.
At a glance
Banffshire at a glance
A county of fishing towns and Highland glens.
- Coastal Pictish lands
- Medieval name 'Banffschire'
- Banff = royal burgh
- Area: 641 sq miles / 1,660 km²
- Population: 46,537
- County top: Ben Macdhui 4,295 ft / 1,309 m
County Geography
Banffshire meets Morayshire to the west, Aberdeenshire to the east, and Inverness-shire to the south, while the Moray Firth forms the county’s northern edge. The county is shaped by the Spey valley, the fertile plain descending to the coast, and the mountain ground rising toward the Cairngorms and the Grampians.
Banffshire reads by the slope of the land: firth coast in the north, Speyside through the middle and south-west, and mountain country closing the inland edge.
Map Reference
View Banffshire on the map
Banffshire is the county. The map also shows lieutenancies and council areas that use the county name.
The county.
The lieutenancy.
Council areas.
Places and routes
Banff, Buckie, Portsoy, Keith, and Dufftown show the county from its burgh coast and fishing belt to the inland Spey-side and whisky country.
Connections
Movement follows the Moray Firth coast, crosses the northern plain, and turns south into the Spey and mountain glens. The routes match the county’s coast-to-upland shape.
Names
- Banffshire
- County of Banff
- Siorrachd Bhanbh
Siorrachd Bhanbh is the Gaelic form of Banffshire. County of Banff is the formal historical style, and documentary forms such as Banffschire show the county’s long naming continuity around the royal burgh of Banff.
The shire was established by the twelfth century in lands with older Pictish roots along the Moray coast. That coastal and Spey-side setting keeps Banffshire clear as a historic county.